Incoming longish post - for those interested in putting in more ram , an NVME SSD, and removing the Hard Drive. I couldn't figure out how to clone, so I did a fresh Install (no Lenovo Bloatware at least)

Intro:
I got this Laptop October 20th with the 20x points. After much debate whether to open it or return it, because with Shoppers AS SOON as you open the box, you can't return it (they even wrote it on my receipt). I decided to keep it after it sat in box for a week Even with the Lenovo 40% sale - i thought this was great value, 1050ti. Bought some used ram, 16gb on Kijiji. No issues running 24gb of ram, lol. Selling the 8gb if anyone is interested (shameless plug) in the Toronto area.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered an NVME Adata SX8200 yesterday (prime delivered same day) from amazon, 960gb for $279.00 . (I couldn't wait any longer - even with BF around the corner). The HD took almost 2 minutes to boot from pressing the power button to opening Chrome. I wanted to remove the HDD completely so I opted for the bigger drive.

So today, I spent the entire day today trying to clone the drive with the Acronis tool that gets included with Adata products when you register the item. And what a pain in the arse. Each time I tried to clone, the computer would require a restart, and it wouldn't clone, and just freeze. So after a lot of googling and trying to figure out the best way to install the NVME and get rid of the HD I finally solved it.

I'm using the device as we speak, and it's snappy and speedy now. 15 seconds from pressing the power button to opening Chrome.

*It was too difficult for me to clone from the HD to the SSD, so I went with a fresh install of Windows 10 since I read the validation key is linked to the Bios and Hardware of the laptop. It was also recommended NOT to clone as random errors could happen later on.

How to Remove Back Plate and Deal with Physical Components

1. Remove 13 black screws
2. Gently open the case. I found opening it from the back where the speakers / hinges are was the easiest to start., and then use a credit card to slide along the edge, until the tray pops out.
3. Ram goes under the metal plate in the middle. There's two slots, maximum is 32 gb according to the manual. Mine came with 1 slot of 8gb 2400 ram.
4. Hard drive can be removed with 4 black screws - on the right side.
5. HD has another 4 silver screws connected to a plate that holds the HD down.
6. NVME goes on bottom left. Use one of the black screws from Part 4. to screw NVME down.

Installing Windows 10:

1. Get a USB with at least 8gb to create a boot drive
2. Google Download Windows 10 and download Win10 from Microsoft and follow the guide for creating Windows 10 installation media
3. It will erase everything on the USB and then create a boot drive from the USB
4. Back up a copy of the Drivers from the D:\Lenovo if you want
5. If you plan to remove the HD completely, you MUST remove the HD before you install Windows 10. Otherwise the bios will not detect the NVME, when you remove the HD after the installation. Online said because during installation, there are two copies of Win 10 and windows gets confused.
6. Restart Computer and press F2 to enter the Bios
7. Go into the bios and change the setting to AHCI
8. Plug in the Boot USB
9. Press F12 and select the boot drive if it doesn't do it automatically.
10. Windows 10 should install easy and seemless.
11. *Note that if you want to Partition 25gb like the HD does for the Lenovo driver, just save some space when you create the C: drive

I hope this advice help can someone save several hours of googling.

Going from a 2 minute cold boot to 15 second boot feels so satisfying. You can always opt for a smaller NVME Boot Drive and keep the HD for storage.

I have it connected to 2 external displays. 23 inch monitor connected through HDMI cable and the 2nd display is connected through USB C -> Display port adapter Philips 40inch 4k. And the laptop display is turned off. Using a soundbar for sound but the speakers are decent. And using a wireless mouse + keyboard .

CPU temperature runs between 35 - 55 degrees during browsing.

I'm pretty happy with the purchase (wife wasn't) and it perfectly suits my needs as a secondary device. Browsing. Youtube / Netflix. Haven't gamed on it, yet, but it has to versatility to. Portable.

1. Get a USB with at least 8gb to create a boot drive
2. Google Download Windows 10 and download Win10 from Microsoft and follow the guide for creating Windows 10 installation media
3. It will erase everything on the USB and then create a boot drive from the USB
4. Back up a copy of the Drivers from the D:\Lenovo if you want
5. If you plan to remove the HD completely, you MUST remove the HD before you install Windows 10. Otherwise the bios will not detect the NVME, when you remove the HD after the installation. Online said because during installation, there are two copies of Win 10 and windows gets confused.
6. Restart Computer and press F2 to enter the Bios
7. Go into the bios and change the setting to AHCI
8. Plug in the Boot USB
9. Press F12 and select the boot drive if it doesn't do it automatically.
10. Windows 10 should install easy and seemless.
11. *Note that if you want to Partition 25gb like the HD does for the Lenovo driver, just save some space when you create the C: drive

Did u install back on the Lenovo Nerve Sense software? I find that a nice addition to the laptop

Got this laptop a few weeks ago. I also couldn’t wait for Black Friday to buy an NVMe M.2 ssd. Found a Samsung Evo 970 500gb for $199.99 at Staples (online only) . Used the $20 off $200 code to bring it down to $180 plus tax (found a filler for $0.50 to just bring it over $200). Still waiting for it to ship to my local store. I went with Samsung bc of the cloning software they prodvide and apparently it’s very easy to do and fast. From what others have said in the previous thread, this thing is snappy and great once you install an NVMe ssd.

Leggo84 wrote: ↑
Did u install back on the Lenovo Nerve Sense software? I find that a nice addition to the laptop

Got this laptop a few weeks ago. I also couldn’t wait for Black Friday to buy an NVMe M.2 ssd. Found a Samsung Evo 970 500gb for $199.99 at Staples (online only) . Used the $20 off $200 code to bring it down to $180 plus tax (found a filler for $0.50 to just bring it over $200). Still waiting for it to ship to my local store. I went with Samsung bc of the cloning software they prodvide and apparently it’s very easy to do and fast. From what others have said in the previous thread, this thing is snappy and great once you install an NVMe ssd.

Incoming longish post - for those interested in putting in more ram , an NVME SSD, and removing the Hard Drive. I couldn't figure out how to clone, so I did a fresh Install (no Lenovo Bloatware at least)

Intro:
I got this Laptop October 20th with the 20x points. After much debate whether to open it or return it, because with Shoppers AS SOON as you open the box, you can't return it (they even wrote it on my receipt). I decided to keep it after it sat in box for a week Even with the Lenovo 40% sale - i thought this was great value, 1050ti. Bought some used ram, 16gb on Kijiji. No issues running 24gb of ram, lol. Selling the 8gb if anyone is interested (shameless plug) in the Toronto area.

I finally bit the bullet and ordered an NVME Adata SX8200 yesterday (prime delivered same day) from amazon, 960gb for $279.00 . (I couldn't wait any longer - even with BF around the corner). The HD took almost 2 minutes to boot from pressing the power button to opening Chrome. I wanted to remove the HDD completely so I opted for the bigger drive.

So today, I spent the entire day today trying to clone the drive with the Acronis tool that gets included with Adata products when you register the item. And what a pain in the arse. Each time I tried to clone, the computer would require a restart, and it wouldn't clone, and just freeze. So after a lot of googling and trying to figure out the best way to install the NVME and get rid of the HD I finally solved it.

I'm using the device as we speak, and it's snappy and speedy now. 15 seconds from pressing the power button to opening Chrome.

*It was too difficult for me to clone from the HD to the SSD, so I went with a fresh install of Windows 10 since I read the validation key is linked to the Bios and Hardware of the laptop. It was also recommended NOT to clone as random errors could happen later on.

How to Remove Back Plate and Deal with Physical Components

1. Remove 13 black screws
2. Gently open the case. I found opening it from the back where the speakers / hinges are was the easiest to start., and then use a credit card to slide along the edge, until the tray pops out.
3. Ram goes under the metal plate in the middle. There's two slots, maximum is 32 gb according to the manual. Mine came with 1 slot of 8gb 2400 ram.
4. Hard drive can be removed with 4 black screws - on the right side.
5. HD has another 4 silver screws connected to a plate that holds the HD down.
6. NVME goes on bottom left. Use one of the black screws from Part 4. to screw NVME down.

Installing Windows 10:

1. Get a USB with at least 8gb to create a boot drive
2. Google Download Windows 10 and download Win10 from Microsoft and follow the guide for creating Windows 10 installation media
3. It will erase everything on the USB and then create a boot drive from the USB
4. Back up a copy of the Drivers from the D:\Lenovo if you want
5. If you plan to remove the HD completely, you MUST remove the HD before you install Windows 10. Otherwise the bios will not detect the NVME, when you remove the HD after the installation. Online said because during installation, there are two copies of Win 10 and windows gets confused.
6. Restart Computer and press F2 to enter the Bios
7. Go into the bios and change the setting to AHCI
8. Plug in the Boot USB
9. Press F12 and select the boot drive if it doesn't do it automatically.
10. Windows 10 should install easy and seemless.
11. *Note that if you want to Partition 25gb like the HD does for the Lenovo driver, just save some space when you create the C: drive

I hope this advice help can someone save several hours of googling.

Going from a 2 minute cold boot to 15 second boot feels so satisfying. You can always opt for a smaller NVME Boot Drive and keep the HD for storage.

I have it connected to 2 external displays. 23 inch monitor connected through HDMI cable and the 2nd display is connected through USB C -> Display port adapter Philips 40inch 4k. And the laptop display is turned off. Using a soundbar for sound but the speakers are decent. And using a wireless mouse + keyboard .

CPU temperature runs between 35 - 55 degrees during browsing.

I'm pretty happy with the purchase (wife wasn't) and it perfectly suits my needs as a secondary device. Browsing. Youtube / Netflix. Haven't gamed on it, yet, but it has to versatility to. Portable.

Thks very nice from you, a good guide to start.
If I want put a small sata ssd for windows (something like 120 or 240gb), is that possible? I never opened a laptop and I can't image where find space to plug an extra hardware!
And if it possible, do I still need unscrew the existing HD or the new will fit without much work?

The Problems with cloning teh drive are stemming 99.999% from the enabled safeboot, this is a feature to prevent malicious code to be able to be executed at boot time before and/or during OS start. The Drive boot drive identifier is written in the BIOS. To switch that enter the BIOS (F1 or F2 for Lenovo) and turn off Safe Boot. After cloning the Drive and booting with the new one enter the BIOS again and enable safe boot for the new boot drive.

I also suggest to use Free Minitool Partition Wizard to clone drives. Easy usage interface and pretty much automatic resizing of partitions to different destination drive sizes. resizing partitions can be a real PITA when using Acronis IME.https://www.partitionwizard.com/free-pa ... nager.html